Before launching yoursocial media marketing strategyfor yourecommercebusiness, you need to first get an overview of the distribution of social media usage. Given thegrowing penetration and usage of social mediathese days, you should start your marketing efforts by focusing on the platforms where you can find most of yourtarget audience. To do that, you need to find out which social media platform has the largest user base.
The latest statistics show that Facebook continues to reign strong as theking of social media, with2.99 billion active usersin 2023. That means that nearly two out of every three of the4.89 billion social media usersacross the world are active users of Facebook.
Facebook’s statistics and its social media ranking say it all. Not only is it the social media platform with the most active users, but it also ranks among apps that consumers spend the most amount of time on. Global Android users spend 18 hours and 2 minutes per month on the Facebook app.
Second on the list of the most popular social media platforms in 2023 is YouTube with 2.53 billion active users—84.5% of the number of Facebook users.
Given that500 hoursof video are uploaded to YouTube every minute worldwide, it may seem like an uphill task to get your video noticed. But also consider theseYouTube statistics: 1 billion hours of video on YouTube are watched daily and one-quarter of people say they discover new brands and products through YouTube ads.
The third- and fourth-most popular social media platforms are WhatsApp and Instagram, with 2 billion active users each. Incidentally, both are owned by the same parent company as Facebook: Meta (previously Facebook).
Further down the list are WeChat,China’s version of WhatsApp, and TikTok, with 1.32 billion and 1.08 billion global users, respectively. This is followed by Facebook Messenger, another Meta-owned entity, with 1.04 billion users worldwide.
These statistics paint a clear picture of Meta’s dominant social media ranking. Of the seven most popular social media platforms, more than half are its entities—namely Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
The eighth- to 10th-most popular social media platforms are:
- Snapchat: 750 million
- Douyin: 730 million
- Telegram: 700 million
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Popular Social Media Platforms FAQ
What are the social media trends for 2023?
- Augmented Reality: Augmented reality (AR) will continue to be a major trend in 2023, with more businesses and organizations utilizing AR to engage with their customers on social media.
- Video Content: Video content will remain a key trend in 2023, with more businesses creating interactive and engaging videos for their social media accounts.
- Chatbots: Chatbots will become more popular, with more businesses and organizations using chatbots to answer customer questions and provide support.
- Social Shopping: Social shopping will also become increasingly popular, as businesses use social media to showcase their products and services and allow customers to purchase directly from their social media accounts.
- Influencer Marketing: Influencer marketing will continue to be a powerful tool for businesses in 2023, as they leverage the reach and authority of influencers to promote their products and services. 6. Social Advertising: Social media advertising will continue to be an important part of any social media strategy in 2023, as businesses target specific audiences with ads tailored to their interests.